Natalie hugged me when she first saw me in school on Monday.

"Thanks for what you did. You really didn't have to, Row," She said as she pulled away.

"Yes, I did. It felt really good too."

Natalie gave a sad smile at that. "I just wish you didn't have to get in trouble for it. I talked to the principal to try to help you out, but the best they did was give Brooke after-school detention for three days."

I had lunchtime detention which meant I didn't have to see Brooke. That was something to celebrate I suppose.

"No biggie, I don't mind the detention or the grounding, it was worth it."

"You were grounded too?!" She asked, her face shifting to dread.

"Natalie, honestly it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'd do it again if I had to." I told her as she followed me to my locker.

Noise from across the hall caught my attention for a moment. It was just some girl smacking her boyfriend upside the head for scaring her. Then, I saw Duncan on the phone, talking with the same old Duncan scowl that was cemented into his features. I wonder what he thought about his girlfriend being punched in the nose.

"Did um- did Jeremy ever find you?" I asked, suddenly remembering him. I had thought of how pissed off he looked when he went after her. I knew another relationship argument was the last thing she needed, but I knew that was exactly what had gone down.

"Yeah he did," She said flatly. "It was just a misunderstanding on his part, we worked things out." She shrugged it off with a smile and crossed her arms.

"Natalie, does he actually make you happy?" I asked carefully.

She silently looked at me for a second, gathering her thoughts I assume. "He loves me Row. And I love him."

I was about to point out that she didn't exactly answer my question when the boys showed up before I could get the chance to.

"Adam, that is not the use of a Q-tip."

"Says who?"

"Anyone with a working brain."

"Do I wanna know?" I asked, half curious half reluctant to find out.

"Nope," Declan answered my question. "So, what are we doing after school?"

"I'm still grounded and I'm also working tonight."

"That's alright, we'll just swing by the diner," Declan said, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"Yes, I love free food!" Adam exclaimed before I could even respond, but it wasn't like I was going to tell them no anyway.

Later that day when school was over I decided to stop by practice since I didn't have to be at work for another 45 minutes. I brought my camera along to snap some shots of the team for the paper.

"Rowena!" Coach greeted me from the field.

"Hey Coach Clarke," I smiled.

"How is lunch detention treating you? I specifically asked them to set you up during lunchtime since Mr. Weston watches over you kids. He's usually more laid back about detention."

Good ole' Coach, always looking out for me.

"It actually wasn't bad at all. I got all my homework done and some freshman kid shared his family size Doritos with me."

"Good to hear-" He cut himself off as he looked out to the field and took a short moment to yell at the top of his lungs. "Myers! Quit sticking your finger in that boys' ear before I bench you again!" Considering Adam's last name was Myers, I was not at all confused by this statement.

"Excuse me, Rowena, apparently I coach a bunch of five-year-olds."

Practice ran its course as it usually did, with the boys becoming sweaty from excessive running and Coach becoming sweaty from excessive yelling. I had snapped all the shots that I needed and was messing around with a spare ball by kicking it at a wall repeatedly.

"Hey Rowena," I heard from behind me as the ball bounced off the wall once again.

I turned around to find Nico with a smile that was easy to return. "Oh, hey Nico."

"If you're done with that I kind of need it for the next bit of practice."

I gave a blank look until he motioned to the soccer ball in my hands after I had picked it up from the ground. "Oh. Sorry, I guess I didn't even realize it could belong to someone before I took it," I admitted awkwardly before handing it off to him.

"No, you're good," He says before taking it. "So, you've been busy, huh? Between landing yourself a boyfriend and punching queen bees in the nose."

"Got to keep it interesting somehow I guess," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"How'd you do it?"

"What, punch her? I just curled my fist like this and-"

"No, I mean..." He hesitated. "Well I guess I mean, how did you know he was into you?"

"...You know," I started slowly. "The whole, he-asked-me-to-be-his-girlfriend thing was pretty much a dead giveaway."

"Okay smartass. Let me phrase it this way. If, hypothetically, I was into someone, how the fuck am I supposed to know if they feel the same about me?" He asked me carefully.

"Okay, so first of all," I said and clasped my hands together as if I was going to dive deep into it. "You're going to have to tell who this girl is."

Nico tsk'd at me. "No bueno."

"Come on, you have to at least tell me who I'm working with before I give you relationship advice." I took a moment to realize that I was talking to this kid like I had known him for ages and we had been besties all along. Why was he even asking me about this? Of all people.

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Okay well," He looked around for a moment to see if anyone was around then turned to me, ducking his head a little to get closer to my ear. "It's not exactly a girl," He whispered.

My mouth quite literally dropped open. The first time this boy ever talked to me, he was basically hitting on me. "You're not straight?" I almost yelled.

He looked around again with a pained expression. "Yes I am, I am." He plastered a forced smile on his face. "Straight as a sharp line, baby girl. It's just that as of recently, the line took a massive dip right in the center," He said while motioning the line with his finger.

"Nico, are you trying to tell you're bisexual?" He leaned his head to the side as he considered my question. After a short pause, he started nodding his head slowly.

My mouth fell open again. "Excuse me while I pick up my jaw off the floor," I said while bending down. Nico took my arm, righting me back up again. "Rowena this is serious, I'm asking for help here."

"But you're not going to tell me who it is?"

"No, I can't share that much yet. I already told you something I never told anyone else before don't push it."

"Yeah, why are you telling me this?" I asked very curiously. "You have lots of friends and we barely talk."

He took a frustrated breath. "I don't know. I feel like I've just constantly been surrounded by people who know me as one thing, you know, and now that I know this one different thing about myself I don't even know who to go to about it. And I've wanted to tell someone for these past few weeks only it's felt like ages, and I feel like if I don't tell someone I'm going to fucking explode," He finished talking all in one breath.

"Anyway," He continues. "I saw you here standing alone and I thought I'd fine you for stealing my property by dumping my problems on you. Now I have a crush and I don't how he feels about me. So, what should I do?"

I blinked a few times to process everything he just told me. "Well, do you see him often?"

"Yeah, we're in the same general friend group." I should really start paying attention to who Nico hangs out with.

I hummed in thought. "Well when Declan and I started hanging out I noticed things like," I thought about it for a single second, "Proximity. He would always end up sitting next to me somehow, even when other spaces were available. His body language was also something to notice, like him leaning into me while he's talking. And he listens to me when I'm talking, like really listens to me." I rambled on about things I had noticed after the fact. They were things I replayed in my head when I was contemplating how I felt about him.

Nico stood there and absorbed every word I was saying. He still turned his head around to see if anyone could be listening in, but all the boys were still heavy in practice.

He asked me about a few more things before he decided he was satisfied. Then he nodded his head in understanding. "Hmm. Alright, I have lots to consider I guess. Thanks, Rowena."

"Yeah no problem," I said as he turned to back to the field. "Hey wait. Do you even know if he's into guys?"

"Oh yeah," He said confidently. "He's into guys."

While he was still close and giving me his attention, I thought about why he told me again. "So, what if I'm just some big blabbermouth who can't keep a secret?"

He shrugged his shoulder simply. "You don't really strike me as the type. Besides, if you did end up telling my secret, you'd save me the trouble of telling everyone myself."

"Promise to give me updates?" I yelled after him. He stuck a thumbs up in the air as he jogged back to the field and I smiled at the fact that I had just made a new friend.

A/N: I'm not gonna lie, updates have been a little slow bc I have a very slight case of writers block. I know exactly how I want the plot to go, but writing things in between that lead up to the climax is where it gets tricky for me.

Till next time <3 thanks for reading!